W. (film)

W. is a 2008 biographical film, directed by Oliver Stone, based on the life and presidency of George W. Bush.

George Herbert Walker Bush

 * My dad would have kicked me in the crotch if I was where you are now, junior.
 * Just what are you cut out for? Getting into car accidents? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy? You're a Bush! Start acting like one! Can't even hold a job. We always worked for a living. It's damn time you joined the rest of us and decided just what it is you're gonna do with your life.
 * You disappoint me, junior. You deeply disappoint me.

George W. Bush

 * I'll never get out of Poppy's shadow!


 * [On his father] This is my war, not his!


 * God bless us all, and may God continue to bless America.


 * Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice... you can't get fooled again.


 * Whose job is it, to find these damn weapons?


 * I believe God wants me to be president. I can't explain it, but something's going to happen, and America's going to need me.


 * [after U.S. troops invade Iraq] That's for everyone who doesn't think I won in 2000!


 * [repeated line] Just tell me what to do!


 * Iran is not Iraq and Iraq is not Iran. I know that.

Dick Cheney

 * Want to know what I see, Mr. President? I see a world where, in about 25 years, America's reserves are gone. Done. Demand is up, 30-40%, and we have two oceans blocks us from the world's reserves. You think we're gonna have allies then?

Karl Rove

 * The American people want revenge. They liked Afghanistan, they want more!

Dialogue

 * Dick Cheney: [talking about torture methods] They utilize fear scenarios.
 * George W. Bush: You mean like pulling out their toenails?


 * George W. Bush: I hear you're looking for me! Wanna go a few rounds mano-a-mano right here?
 * George H.W. Bush: You want an ass-whipping?
 * George W. Bush: Try it, old man!
 * George H.W. Bush: Go ahead, take a swing!


 * George W. Bush: So, what did that old battleaxe Helen Thomas say about Iraq?
 * Ari Fleischer: Oh, you know the rap. "What makes Saddam different than any other dictator?" "What right do we have to go into Iraq?"
 * George W. Bush: Did you tell her I don't like mud-suckers who gas their own people? Did you tell her I don't like assholes that try to kill my father? Did you tell her I'm gonna kick his sorry mother-frickin' ass all over the Middle East?
 * Ari Fleischer: Uh, I told her about... half of that.




 * [Bush has just helped his father get elected as President]
 * Karl Rove: You look down.
 * George W. Bush: Just tired, that's all. Just wondering what's gonna happen next.
 * Karl Rove: What do you mean?
 * George W. Bush: Well, my father's not going to give me a position, because he can't. And I'm not going to sit around and become a lobbyist, that's for sure.
 * Karl Rove: George, I've been a lifelong student of political horseflesh. From what I see, you've got a natural talent. You've got the people touch. But you need to go out into the world and do something. I don't know how else to say it, but you haven't done jack shit yet.




 * George W. Bush: Who's ever remembered the son of a president?
 * Laura Bush: John Quincy Adams!
 * George W. Bush: Yeah, but that was like, 300 years ago, wasn't it?


 * Journalist: Mr. President, what place do you think you will have in history?
 * George W. Bush: History? In history we'll all be dead!


 * George W. Bush: Now I don't believe in forcing myself on people, so I'm just gonna ask for your phone number, not your vote.
 * Laura Bush: [laughs] You're a devil! Devil in a white hat!


 * Gen. Colin Powell: Funny Dick, I remember you once agreeing that going all the way in Baghdad would be a mistake.
 * Dick Cheney: Well, I think you made a bigger boo-boo, Colin. You could have been president.
 * Gen. Colin Powell: Fuck you.


 * Karl Rove: Here they come. They'll be bringing the heat.
 * George W. Bush: I know, don't swing at anything I can't hit.
 * Reporter #1: Mr. Bush, Mr. Bush, you didn't talk much about education. What are your plans for reform?
 * George W. Bush: Well, uh, I'm gonna deregulate school districts so that teachers and administrators can, you know, can develop programs to best fit their kids.
 * Reporter #2: Sir, are you proposing to measure student's progress?
 * George W. Bush: Oh, well, we need to make a wholesale effort against racial profiling, you know? Which is, uh, illiterate children. You need to be able to teach a child to read and then he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.
 * Karl Rove: We're in the very early stages of developing our program.
 * Reporter #2: How do you plan to change the school finance formula?
 * George W. Bush: I for one will not stand for the subsidization of failure. How do you know if you measure up if you have a system that simply suckles them through.
 * Reporter #2: What about our failed schools? Do you think the state needs to take them over?
 * George W. Bush: More government's not the answer. We must have the attitude that every child in America, regardless where raised can learn. Rarely is the question asked is their children learning.


 * Karl Rove: If you can't stand in front of those guys two minutes and come up with one plausible answer what the hell are we running for governor for?
 * George W. Bush: Just tell me what to do, whatever it takes. Look if I need to read the whole damn Constitution I'll do it.




 * Colin Powell: So what is our real exit strategy on Iraq, Dick?
 * Dick Cheney: There is no exit. We stay. Empire. Real empire. Nobody will fuck with us again.
 * Colin Powell: Spoken like a true oilman.




 * [Bush is conferring with his generals about planning the Iraq war]
 * George W. Bush: What about projected casualties?
 * General: Well, I think now more in the neighborhood of several hundred, no more than 1,000.
 * George W. Bush: Just remember, Americans don't like to see dead boys on their television sets.
 * Donald Rumsfeld: Yes, death tends to give war a depressing image.

Cast

 * Josh Brolin - George W. Bush
 * Elizabeth Banks - Laura Bush
 * James Cromwell - George H. W. Bush
 * Richard Dreyfuss - Dick Cheney
 * Toby Jones - Karl Rove
 * Ellen Burstyn - Barbara Bush
 * Scott Glenn - Donald Rumsfeld
 * Jeffrey Wright - Colin Powell
 * Thandie Newton - Condoleezza Rice